Change of Heart
by Riyshn
Summary: -abandoned- Netto meets Forte at the age of 6. How will this change things? ...can't do summaries...
1. Chapter 1

Yeah, I have other stories I should be working on, but I really wanted to do this. On that same note though, I have no idea where I want to go with this, so any suggestions/requests are more than welcome.

I haven't been able to find an exact date for when Forte first went nuts. The closest I can find is 'a little over ten years ago.' I'm figuring that to mean 12 years, and since Netto is 14 in the series (I think...), that would mean that Forte's been running around the 'net for around 4 years now. That's all. Go read now.

Change of Heart  
Chapter 1  
by LanHikari2000x

It was a beautiful day: the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the small child running home crying...

Hold on, back up.

Six years old, this child's name is Hikari Netto.

"Stupid Dekao..." he sobbed, "Stupid Ken... Papa does love me! He does! It's not my fault he's never home..."

He broke into a fresh round of sobs as he opened his front door. He ran to his room, nearly slamming the door behind him, and finally allowed himself to fall to the floor and just cry.

"Hey, brat! Shut up!"

Netto sniffed and looked up at his computer, rubbing his eyes. There on the screen was a strange Navi. His body was covered by a tattered brown cloak, and he had two black and orange 'fins' on his head and a light blue, cross-shaped crystal centered on his forehead.

"Sorry Mr. Net Navi," he said, not seeming to see anything odd in finding an unfamiliar Navi in his computer, "I didn't mean to bother you."

Netto picked himself up of the floor and moved to sit in front of the computer, examining this new Navi.

He spoke up again after a moment. "My name is Hikari Netto. What's yours?"

The Navi didn't respond. Instead he met and held Netto's gaze until the boy started to feel uncomfortable.

"Nevermind..." Netto looked away awkwardly, " You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I guess..."

"Forte."

Netto looked back to the computer screen. "What?"

"My name is Forte."

Netto smiled brightly, "Nice to meet you, Forte."

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Forte watched over the sleeping human before him. The brat had somehow gotten him to promise not to leave in the middle of the night, and he was reluctant to break his word to the boy.

_Hikari Netto, huh? Grandson of Hikari Tadashi, creator of the 'net prototype Alpha?_

Forte smirked to himself at the possibilities this presented.

_Too easy._

TBC

Now that I think about, was it Tadashi that created Alpha?

Dekao seems like the kind of person who would tease someone about something like that at that age. Ken's just an OC who you will probably never see again.

Hmm... something else I wanted to say... Right. It's not going to show up quite yet, but Netto knows about Saito in this.

Please, like I said, I don't know where I want to go with this, so any ideas would be most appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

19 reviews at time of typing this up. Thank you! That's normally how much I get for three chapters!

Slight change of plans. Well, big change of plans, but whatever. Last chapter I said that Netto knows about Saito in this. Turns out the way I went with this means that I no longer have to do that, so you can forget I ever said that.

Also, I have a new Poll on my Bio, please go vote on it.

Now, one last thing. My primary internet access is through my Wii, and for some reason it won't let me save documents on FFN, so most of my stuff will likely end up on my LiveJournal before it gets here. My LJ can be found at my Homepage link.

Change of Heart  
Chapter 2  
by LanHikari2000x

Forte looked around the empty room before linking out. It had been a week now, and it was time to get to work. 

The area he appeared in was mostly empty, save for a digital representation of one chair in the center.

This chair - a Pulse Transmission System - was why he was here. The PTS scans the electromagnetic pulses in the user's brain and converts them into a virtual avatar, essentially allowing a human to appear on and interact with the network without the aid of a netnavi. This particular one was an old model, merely a prototype, and had been all but forgotten by the world. Prefer for his purposes.

He sat to work clearing up the system. He started sifting through the subsystem; ediing some and deleting others.

Hours later he stepped back to examine his work. The PTS chair was now mostly functional. Some of the the systems needing some fine tuning, bu that could be done later.

Forte linked back into Netto's computer and was surprised to find the room empty. He checked the time to be sure and frowned; Netto should have been back hours ago, yet there was no sign anyone had been in the room all day.

He checked the local news forecasts for anything that might have held the boy up, but was unable to find anything.

He closed the search and stormed out to look for himself. _Damn brat. Probably got himself kidnapped or something._

Forte started his search at the school, which was fortunate, and that's where Netto was. It seemed someone had broken into the school and locked down the whole network. Discovering why was a simple matter of scanning the network for anything out of the ordinary. Buried deep in the network, and under more protection than most of the files at the Science Labs - and he should know, having helped refine most of the original firewalls - was a program hew couldn't even begin to scan without direct access.

_ Now why would something like that be in a school?_

He paid no mind to the navi trying - and failing - to sneak up on him. That is, until th fool tried to attack him. The weak buster shots exploded harmlessly against his cloak, but they did create and decently sized dust cloud, giving his attacker the illusion of victory.

This illusion was quickly shattered when he reappeared behind he navi. He was slightly disappointed to find that his would-be attacker was merely a standard Alpha model. A simple Explosion was all it took to delete the Alpha and he continued toward his goal.

Unknown to Forte, at this exact moment the operator of said Alpha model had planed to have his navi appear on every screen in the school and give the obligatory 'bad guy' speech. So he was understandably surprised when, instead of a speech, the entire school was given front row seats to see his navi get busted into oblivion.

One child in room A-2 was still staring at the blackboard-screen in surprise. _Forte? Did you just ...save me?_ He wanted even more now to get home so he could talk to Forte.

Meanwhile, Forte had just arrived at the mysterious program. The firewalls he had noted before weren't as powerful as they had first appeared. Though they did require passcodes dozens of characters long, they had fallen easily under the force of an Earth Breaker attack.

The officials arrived just in time to see the Black Shadow leave with eh powerful Model A upgrade program.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Netto ran home as soon as he was released and hurried straight to his room. eager to talk to Forte. Thus hes has disappointed when he saw that Forte was not in his computer.

Forte was in fact back at the lab with the PTS chair. The program he had stolen was the 'Model A' upgrade program and research notes. The Model A was designed to upgrade the standard Alpha models in a way similar to his own Get Ability program. The power boost had proven to be too much for the Alpha's primitive AI, causing it to go berserk, and the project had been abandoned. Why it had been kept in a school? No idea.

The Model A worked much like his own Get ability program, except it copied the form of a defeated opponent and allowed the user to move between these forms through a process called A-trans, rather than coping abilities used against him.

Forte loaded the Model A into the blank figure sitting on the chair - a default navi with no AI used when someone used the PTS without attaching a PET. He turned and linked out. Now he just had to get Netto here.

TBC

Yeah, lots of techno-babble. And yes, that's Model A from MMZXA. That's all I have to say now, though I do have one question. I know all of Forte's attacks except for two. Does anyone know what his Banishing World attack looks like? Or that name of the where he basically chucks a Darkness Overload at you? By the way, 19 reviews at time of typing this! Thank you! That's more than I usually get after three chapters!

Next chapter will be rather short, but it's mostly filler to set up for the next chapter anyway, so what ever. Also, it's almost done.

Anyone who has there own OC netnavis who would like to donate them for use with A-trans, feel free.


	3. Chapter 3

See? I told you it was almost done. I'm not totally happy with the way this chapter turned out, but it's really just a lead-in to the next chapter anyway, so I'll live with it. And I know it's way too short, so don't bug me about that. Just one quick note: There is a time skip here. This chapter takes place a little under a year after the last one. About 9 or 10 months.

Change of Heart  
Chapter 3  
by LanHikari2000x

"Ne, Forte?" Netto, now 7, looked up from his current project. A few months ago Forte had noticed Netto's natural talent for inventing and had gotten a rather large box of spare parts and tools delivered. Netto hadn't thought to ask how and Forte had denied any knowledge that that day had been Netto's birthday. "Why do you stay with me like this?

Forte eyed the boy for a moment before responding, trying to decide how much of the truth to tell him. "You remember when I told you about Alpha?" Netto nodded. "Alpha was created by your father and grandfather." Forte left Netto to figure out the rest for himself.

Netto was silent as he absorbed this information. "So... You just want to use me for revenge?"

"Yes," Forte said bluntly.

"Oh," Netto shifted uncomfortably, "I see." He started fiddling with the object in his hand again. "What were you going to do?"

Forte was surprised. He knew his presence in the boy's life had caused Netto to mature much faster than he would have otherwise, but this was a bit much,wasn't it? "Kidnap you and turn you against your father. That doesn't bother you?"

But Netto had already gone back to working on his newest toy. Forte inwardly sighed. More mature he might me, but he still had the attention span of a cheese sandwich.

"Hurry up and finish that. I have something to show you."

Netto looked up briefly and nodded before focusing once again on his project.

TBC

The cheese sandwich thing is a tribute to my friend. We say he's got the memory of a goldfish and the attention span of a cheese sandwich. I thought it fit.

I still need Navis to use with A-trans. I've only got one or two at the moment (Pyra: When I finally get around to writing it, just Sonia, or can I take Guilsu too?), plus one of my own that I'm gonna use as friend/rival type character. Anyone who wants to help can either give me a profile(appearance, emblem, weapon(s), personality, Net. Op., etc.) or a link to the story they appear in (if any).Someone please help me before I have to resort to using cameos from my manga/game collection.


	4. Chapter 4

Ok, this chapter starts of pretty much right where the last one left off, then jumps forward about a month and a half.

Much thanks to everyone who is helping me with navi ideas, but for future reference, Netto happens to be a guy. A-trans can do cross-gender transformations just fine, but somehow I doubt he's gonna be totally comfortable turning into a girl. And to Kodaim Garaton: sorry, but I've decided he's too much like Forte for me to actually be ale to use him, plus I already have another character I was going to use the exact same back story for. (minor detail: look at Forte's backstory. Not just Forte having it, but the existence of the Get Ability itself was a total accident.)

People who tried to help me with Forte's atacks: I'm looking at the EXE3 guide here and it says his attacks are Explosion, Air Shot, Shooting Buster, Gospel Cannon, and _Banishing_ World. It just fails to actually tell you anything about that last one.

Change of Heart  
Chapter 4  
by LanHikari2000x

Netto had to admit, the facility Forte had led hem to was certainly impressive. Everywhere he looked was impressive looking equipment, though he couldn't even begin to guess what most of it was for.

He stopped when he came to a wall and looked left and right. The hallway stretched a good hundred feet in both directions. "Which way should I go?"

Forte's voice came from the old model PET he had attached to one of his belt loops. "Left. It's the second door on the right."

Netto followed the directions, but found the door to be sealed with a key-pad lock. "Forte?" Netto questioned.

"The code is 7-2-3-2-8-3-3-2-6-2-4-1-3-2. You should work on memorizing that."

Netto nodded as he his the 'Enter' key and the door opened. "Ok, For-" he stopped when he caught sight of what was on the other side of the door. Unlike the other rooms he had been able to see into, everything in this room was obviously powered up and attached to a central device. This device was a hi-tech looking chair - not that it could look anything but hi-tech, what with the myriad of cables connecting it to the various computers around the room and the headpiece that almost looked like and old VR helmet.

"Forte?" Netto asked, still looking around in awe, "What is all of this?"

Forte didn't answer directly. "plug me into one of the computers and sit in the chair.

Netto did as he was told. He sat in the chair and looked around the room, wondering what was supposed to happen. He started to panic when the headpiece lowered over his head. "Forte? What's happening? Why is-" he was cut off when the headpiece fully covered his face and muffled his voice.

Netto was blinded when his world suddenly went white. As his vision cleared, he was surprised to find himself standing upright with a familiar silhouette standing over him.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

_Mettaurs, _Netto decided,_ are not worth the time it takes to delete them._

Netto looked around. Forte had found a server that was totally overrun with Mettaurs. It was supposed to be 'training' for Netto. Netto just found the whole thing boring after the first half hour or so. Not seeing anymore Mets, he concentrated for a second and the sword he was holding flashed briefly and vanished.

He concentrated again and this time he dissolved into a shower if pixels, which fell and melted smoothly into the ground.

He reappeared through a similar process in front of Forte.

"I did it, Forte. I got rid of all the Mettaurs. Can I go home now?"

"Kidnapped persons are generally not allowed to return to their home."

"Oh," Netto wilted. He hadn't realized that Forte was going to go through with his plan so soon. "So... what happens now?"

Forte felt his eye tic. Intentionally or not, Netto was doing a very good impression of a kicked puppy.

"Fine," Forte relented. Netto brightened and Forte continued, "However, you will come back here whenever I tell you to, understood?"

Netto bowed his head. "Yeah, I get it."

"Good," Forte said, and deactivated the lock on the PTS, letting Netto return to his body.

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Forte watched Netto take down a group of Shrimpy viruses. _He's getting better, but is he good enough to take on an actual navi?_

Netto's appearance had changed over that past month and a half. He seemed to be absorbing aspects of the viruses he destroyed. He currently had the armor of an Armadill virus on his right forearm, a pickaxe and an umbrella crossed on his back, and two loops of wire on each and that his could use to fire weak ZapRings. Added to the transparent white saber he could summon at will - which he was surprisingly good with - and Netto was on his way to being quite a force to be reckoned with.

Forte pulled himself out of his thoughts when he heard Netto call his name.

"This is getting boring. When can I fight stronger enemies?"

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Netto watched the various navis walk by, searching for the right one. Eventually he found the right one: a tall black navi with an obvious video tame theme and a projector on his forehead. He raised a arm and aimed, firing a ZapRing right in front of the navi's feet. He waited just long enough for the navi to catch a glimpse of him before darting away around the corner.

Netto spent the next ten minutes playing chase with he navi, leading it away from the more populated areas towards an area he had picked out earlier.

Videoman found himself smirking when he realized where he was being led. This path led straight to a dead end, and his attacker was backing himself against a wall.

He turned the corner to find his attacker leaning against a wall, holding a strange white blade. It was a child! He opened his mouth to ask for a name, but he was beaten to the punch.

"So who are you anyway?"

Videoman frowned; this kid attacks him and doesn't even know who he is? "I am Videoman. Who are you?"

"Who am I? Hmm..." he seemed to think, "I don't think I'm, anybody, at least not yet. Videoman, huh?" He nodded too himself, "Ok, that'll work."

Videoman wanted to ask what he meant, but his didn't get a chance when the kid exploded in a shower of pixels.

The next thing Videoman knew, that strange white blade was sticking through the center of his chest. His mouth opened in a silent scream as he was deleted. The last thing he heard was his attacker whispering in his ear.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Videoman. Hope you had a backup."

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Netto Gasped when Forte released the lock on the PTS and returned him to his body.

The power! The seer rush of power he's got when he'd absorbed Videoman! Even now the phantom sensations were making him jittery!

Netto stood up and nearly danced to the nearest terminal. "Forte! Forte! When can I do the at again? That felt- That was just- I don't even know the words for it! It just- Just _was_! Please let me do that again! Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease," he had to stop to breath at this point.

Sometime during Netto's hyper ranting, the screen in front of him had flared to life, revealing Forte.

"Tomorrow. For now, the room directly across the hall holds a small kitchen and a couch." Having seen the room before, Netto nodded, though with a bad feeling about what Forte was going to say. "Get something to eat and got to sleep. Tomorrow I introduce you to the Uranet."

TBC

Before anyone complains about Netto being OOC, remember that he's only 7 years old; he's just having fun. And he's been hanging out with Forte for most of the past year, so his morals are going to be a bit of.

Netto's sword. I didn't even try to describe it. It looks like Ulrich's sword in Garage Kids (look it up on YouTube), except it's white and the whole thing is made of the scrolling binary, not just the blade.

Netto's virus thing. One thing that bugged me about MMZXA was that even though you could supposedly transform into any one you defeated, there was no way to turn into the random enemies you fight along the way. I'm changing that. Netto can transform into  
any of the viruses he defeats, but he doesn't, 'cause that'd just be stupid. Instead, if he kills enough if a particular virus, he can use it's (basic level) attack/ability. He can only keep 4 at a time though.


	5. Chapter 5

Just one note here. I'm trying to use the Japanese names for things, 'cause they don't make me want to kill the horrable dubbers, but I don't know all the terms, so forgive me when I'm not consistent. Also, not spell checked.

Change of Heart  
Chapter 5  
by LanHikari2000x

Netto looked around to make sure he was alone before transforming back into himself. The small blue and pink navi glowed white briefly before being replaced by a12 year old human boy.

Four years had changed Netto. Aside from the natural changes of age, the umbrella and pickax previously crossed over his back had been replaced by a large metal boomerang. The loops of wire on his hands were still there, but the Armadill shell on his arm had been replaced with two strips of grey cloth that wrapped around his arms and up over his hands like a pair of fingerless gloves. He had also gotten a pair of large spiked sunglasses.

Netto calmly walked into Net City as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

He walked past the various shops and forums, aiming for the news board near the center of the city. He reached the board and quickly found what he wanted: near the top of the list was a wanted notice.

Wanted:  
Any information regarding the whereabouts of the organization known as Mu.  
Caution:  
Do not approach! All members are known to have powerful brainwashing abilities.  
Reward:  
50,000+Z depending on value of information.

Following was a list of names and pictures of the supposed members of the organization. Netto scanned through the list, making a mental note of each name.

_Beastman... Cloudman... Phantom Black... Videoman... They've got everyone but Amaya and Radman!_

"They're not as bad as the WWW was, but still, it's scary to think how fast they seem to be gaining support."

Surprised, Netto turned to look at the speaker. It was a plain looking blue navi, though he was sporting a vaguely familiar emblem.

"Do you know what they're wanted for."

The blue navi nodded, "They've been connected to several thefts and cases of property damage. And then there's... Ah, sorry, I'm not supposed to talk about that..." he trailed off. "My name's Rockman, nice to meet you," he said, trying to recover.

Netto smiled, letting the slip slide. "You can call me Zetta. You said your name is Rockman? You work for SciLab, right?" Rockman nodded, surprised this stranger knew of him. Netto's smile widened. "Cool! Come on, I have something to show you." He grabbed Rockman'sarm and started dragging him towords the outskirts of the city.

"Hey! Hey!" Rockman tried to free his arm, but Netto's grip was too strong. "Where are you taking me?"

"The Uranet," Netto said, dragging Rockamn into a side ally, "I found something a while ago that SciLab needs to know about." He released Rockman and started looking for something. "I'd go and tell someone myself, but I have ...personal reasons for staying as far away from SciLab as I can. Damn it!" he kicked the wall in frustration, "I know Contra said she put it around here somewhere!"

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

Rockman stumbled as he landed in the darkness of the Uranet. 'It' turned out to be a link straight into the Uranet hidden as a sewer drain. When Zetta had removed the drain lid, the link opened, and Zetta had simply shoved him in before jumping in himself.

Zetta landed easily behind him and started walking. "Com on, it's this way." He led Rockman on, chatting all the while. Rockman quickly lost track of what he was talking about, and eventually just began to nod where it seemed appropriate.

The stopped when Zetta saw a female navi he seemed to recognize.

"Contra! Hey, Contra!" Zetta waved and ran forward.

Rockman blinked and moved to follow. _Contra? As in Kaitou Conrta?_

Zeta didn't quite stop in time and ended up crashing into 'Contra', knocking both to the ground. Zetta quickly stood and helped Contra up, blushing.

"Ah, sorry about that. I just wanted to thank you for the tip about the news post. They really did get almost everyone."

Contra smiled and ruffled Zetta's hair. "Eh, don't worry about it, kid. I'm sure you'll find a way to make it through this like you always do." She looked up and noticed Rockman, "And who is this then? New member?"

It was at that moment that something clicked in Rockman's mind. Zetta's cheerful personality on top of his familiarity with the Uranet, his desire to stay away from SciLab, and his interest in information of Mu. Rockman added two and two and got ...well, a three and a one, but at least he was on the right track.

Zetta looked confused for a moment before he realized that Contra was talking about Rockman. He quickly shook his head and corrected her, "What? Oh, you mean Rockman. No, I'm hoping he can get SciLab to help with that problem down under the Graveyard."

Contra frowned at Zetta. You have connections in the Three. Why are you risking involving the officials?"

Zetta shifted and avoided making eye contact with her. "...I can't do that. Look, Rockman and I should be going now. I'll send Radman by later to talk, ok?" He grabbed for Rockman's arm again and dragged him away form Contra.

Zetta released him as soon as they were out of sight. "Sorry about Contra. She has a bit of a history with SciLab. He looked around and started walking again, watching Rockman curiously. "Is something wrong? You look a bit tence. Need to get beck to you operator or something?"

Rockman shook his head, surprised Zetta had said anything, "I work solo; no operator. It's just... Zetta, you're part of Mu, aren't you?"

Zetta snapped his head around to Rockman, the smiled lightly and continued forward. "So you figured it out. Yeah, I'm it's leader. Well, second in command, but no one can fine Him lately, so I'm in charge." He stopped at what looked like a large white dome set into the ground, maybe ten feet across and five feet tall.

What I'm about to show you is so big that even the Big Three - that is, Forte, Serenade, and Pharaohman - couldn't deal with it. Serenade erected this barrier to keep them in, but..." he shrugged, "it can't hold forever."

Zetta placed a hand on the dome. A ripple spread outward form his hand, leaving a barrier transparent as it passed.

Rockamn gasped at what was revealed: a hole leading down to an even deeper area of the Uranet, and area filled as far as Rockman could see with Dreamviruses and Gospel Bugs.

TBC

Eh, I had to make up some sort of sub-society for the Uranet. This is what I came up with. 'The Three.' Serenade, Pharaohman, and Forte are in charge. Not a 'council of three' thing, but more of a 'do what we say or else' thing. All three are willing to help others, but there are obviously certain conditions you have to meet first. Serenade you just have to prove yourself to and then justify yourself. If he agrees with your motives, he's help you out a bit. Pharaohman is a bit trickier. You have to pass his trial. It's a sotr of sphinx's riddle thing: if you don't get it right the first time, you probably won't get a second chance. If you do succeed though, his help is usually a little more useful than Serenade's (eg. a new weapon instead of 'this is how to do it'). Forte is simple. If you can manage to get him interested (good luck with that) he'll blow your problem to smithereens for you. Netto/Zetta is of semi-friendly terms with two of them. I'll leave it up to you to guess who the second one is.

I've learned recently that I actually naturally write in italics. Don't know why I never noticed it before, but I think it's cool.

From now on whenever Netto's on the 'net I will refer to him as Zetta. That is all. And bonus points to anyone who can figure out where I stole that name from. Hint: 'badass.' More bonus points if you can tell me who 'The One' is.

To the creators of Contra and Amaya: Sorry I didn't give you personal recoginition here, but I'm a bit pressed for computer time at the moment and can't really go looking through for your names. You know who you are, (to everyone else, they don't belong to me) and I promise I'll get it up here next time. Sorry if I screwed up Contra's personality a bit. I needed an older sister type person. Radman is mine though.


	6. Chapter 6

I just read back through the last chapter, and nearly died from all the typos in it. Note to self: Read first!

Wow, I'm lazy... This has been done since before summer started. I wanted to add more, 'cause it's way too short, but more just never came. Oh well. Sorry it's so late. I've got a bunch of excuses, but they all suck, so I won't bore you with them. Note: On the 'Net he's Zetta, in the real world he's Raito, and he's only Netto with a select few that he trusts. Also, please tell me if I screw up with the honorifics.

Change of Heart  
Chapter 6  
by LanHikari2000x

Netto was working on finding a solution to the Gospel/Dream Virus army with the creator of the original Gospel beast - one Obihiro Shun - when he was interrupted by one rather worried navi.

"Are you sure that was wise?"

Netto paused momentarily before focusing back on the monitor in front of him.

"Ah, Obihiro-kun, do you think we could finish this later?"

Shun nodded, "Sure, Netto-kun. I'll keep working on the anti-Gospel program."

"Thanks," Netto smiled, then he turned serious. "And remember..."

Shun rolled his eyes and reached for the switch to cut the transmission. "I know, I know; I can't tell anyone who you are. I wish you'd tell me why." He shook his head, "I'll see you later, Netto-kun."

The connection cut out and Netto leaned back in his chair. "You worry too much, Radman," he spoke to the room in general, knowing Radman would hear him, "You know no one recognizes me as Zetta. Even that Pyra girl didn't recognize me, and we met her before I copied BigHat." He stood and grabbed a device from the desk, fixing it around his ear, "Switch to the headset."

This headset was a fairly recent invention of his. It had started as a standard off-the-shelf earpiece, but Netto had modified it to have a scouter-style holographic display. Power was still a problem though, so he had to keep it on the charger most of the time.

Netto talked out of the old research complex, grabbing Radman's PET on the way and heading toward the local curry place.

Radman's voice came through the headset, "No, that's was back when you were still using the Metrid's cloak and the Spooky's mask. Of course they didn't recognize you. And Pyra and Sonica don't have a history of working with Blues. ...And Thunderman, and Knightman, and the Netopian Army..."

"Alright, I get it!" Netto shouted, drawing stares from other people on the street. He blushed and lowered his voice, "I screwed up, I get it. I just... I don't know. It felt like I could trust him." He sighed, "What do you want me to do about it?"

Radman stayed silent, not having an answer to this, and Netto had already ordered and started eating by the time he spoke again. His answer nearly caused Netto to choke on his curry. "You should make an allegiance with them. Officially, and as publicly as you can."

Once Netto recovered, he slapped the side of his head rather more forcefully that was really required to activate the headset's holoscreen. He tried to whisper so as not to be overheard by other people in the restaurant, but it ended up coming out as more of a strangled hiss. "Are you insane? I managed to fill most of the slots on the Top 50 Most Wanted list _alone_, and you want me to turn myself in? I'll get like six life sentences!"

Radman's image nodded. "Yes, you probably would. Except they need you. You know more about the Uranet and it's politics than any human alive, except maybe Mitani. _And_ you have more contacts down there than anyone else," Radman paused, "Of course, if you have a better idea..."

Netto scowled as best he could at the headset, "No I don't," he sighed, "Alright, we'll do it your way. Set up a meeting sometime next week." He paused before adding, "Somewhere Sci-Lab will be in control, I suppose. It would be best if they were comfortable."

TBC

Mitani. I'm sure I got his name wrong. The kid from BN3. Admin of the Uranet guy. For anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, this doesn't take place in any one of the continuities. I'm taking ideas from all three as they are convenient.

I know I haven't given a description of Radman yet. It should come next chapter or the one after that. And that's 'rad' short for radiation, not the slang term.

I'm surprised so many people got where I stole the name from. I thought no one knew about that series. No one knew who The One is though...

Credit for Pyra and Sonica.exe goes to Pyra Kurai Akaidra. Credit for Contra.exe goes to Kage Mistress of Shadows. Credit for Amaye.exe goes to Camula.

I've started a Let's Play of I Wanna Be The Guy on YouTube, for anyone who's interested in watching me die painfully. Many, many, _many _times. I think the last time I checked my death count was at 126. I also have a LP of Castlevania: CotM (Current challenge: No DSS) going, and as soon as my friend gets his computer back we're doing a race of BN6 (Challenge: no Mystery Data), so that'll be up there too. My screenname there is the same as here.


End file.
